Taoiseach Micheál Martin has insisted that Transport Minister Eamon Ryan is “not asleep at the wheel” and is handling issues at Dublin Airport caused by the cold snap.
Independent TD Mattie McGrath said that if the Minister is not asleep, “he’d want to be defrosted” to deal with the issue ahead of the busy festive period.
It comes following widespread issues at the airport in the last number of days that have seen hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled due to the cold weather.
The cold snap saw some passengers sitting on planes for up to six hours on Friday.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Dáíl that Minister Ryan needed to deal with the issue now so that the hectic scenes seen last summer are not repeated this Christmas.
“We have a right to expect the part of the contingency planning for winter time as a major European airport would be a plan to keep flights going during a cold snap,” she said.
“Yet it seems that planning for de-icing of aircraft or runways was only an afterthought as management was taken by surprise.
“Once again, we see authorities scramble around rather than being prepared for a scenario that was entirely foreseeable.
“In the summer the failure to plan in Dublin Airport brought chaos. The situation, as you recall, spiralled out of control because Minister Ryan failed to get to grips with the crisis.
“Now it seems that Minister Ryan is asleep at the wheel again.
“Christmas is the busiest time of the year at Dublin Airport. Approximately one million people will pass through the airport during the holidays. The only scenes that we should see at Dublin Airport at Christmas time are scenes of joy and happiness and reconnection.”
“Minister Ryan must wake up and do his job to ensure that Dublin Airport runs properly.”
In response, Taoiseach Micheál Martin insisted several times that Eamon Ryan was awake.
He also said that Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien who is part of the National Emergency Coordination Group “is also wide awake”.
“We do need to make sure that capacity exists within Dublin Airport in terms of enough deicing capacity and preparing for extreme weather events,” Mr Martin said.
“There's an obligation on the agencies to be prepared and to respond to situations like this.
“Dublin Airport isn’t the only airport that has had problems.”
He continued: “Could I reassure deputy [McDonald] that Eamon Ryan is not asleep at the wheel?
“I can definitely assure the house that he is anything but fast asleep at this particular juncture.”
Independent TD Mattie McGrath then said that if Minister Ryan was not asleep “he would want to be defrosted”.
Senior Government sources told the Irish Mirror that the problems at Dublin Airport did not stem from the daa and were due to airlines not having enough de-icer.
It is understood that up to eight pieces of additional deicer equipment have now been procured for use at Dublin Airport.
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